The Request: The Outtakes
by redhead414
Summary: Missing moments from my story, "The Request." Rated K-M; the moments are in no particular order.
1. Leo & the Sorting Hat

**_A lot of people asked for it, so I figured why not. Here's The Request: The Outtakes. If you have a scene or a moment you wish you would have seen, send me a PM or leave a message in the comments. They won't be in any particular order. Hope you enjoy! -Redhead414_**

* * *

The Great Hall was everything that his older siblings described it to be. Bewitched ceilings, tables lined with food for days, and an energy in the room that was simply magical - and not the kind you get with the simple wave of a wand. He finally got his wand four days ago in Diagon Alley. While his mother was off picking up the school robes that had been ordered a few weeks back, his father took him to Ollilvander's. Leo didn't think his father would come back to Diagon Alley with them ever again after what happened last time, but when Leo asked him the night before they went, he was happily surprised with his father's response.

_"Another Malfoy, I see," Mr. Ollivander said with neither a sneer nor a stare, but instead a smile. "I thought your time might be coming soon." _

_Leo beamed as Draco's hands perched themselves on top of his son's shoulders. "Hopefully he won't take as long as Claire did." _

_Mr. Ollivander laughed. "A very particular girl, she was. Not surprising, that we had to search for an equally particular wand." He stared at the young Malfoy, a spitting image of his father with his mother's eyes and smile, trying to get a sense about him. "Hmm," he hummed. "Wait right here. I might have just the wand."_

_Leo looked up at his father with excitement. "Do you think I'll find it on the first try?" _

_"It's rare to find your wand on the first try," Draco told him. "I tried at least six of them. Your sister on the other hand, may have tried every wand in this damn shop. Wands are finicky things, son. No one really understands them completely - not even wandmakers." _

_"Your father speaks the truth," Mr. Ollivander replied as he reemerged from the back with a few boxes in hand. He opened the first box and presented Leo with the first wand. "Cherry wood, eleven inches, with the core of a Thestral tail hair," he announced, placing the wand in Leo's hand. "Give a good wave now." _

_Leo did as he was instructed, and chaos ensued, boxes and papers flying about. "Sorry!" he exclaimed as Mr. Ollivander quickly removed the wand from his hand._

_"No apologies needed," Mr. Ollivander replied as he opened the second box. "Some of your ancestors favored a Cherry wood wand back in the day, and I was curious to see if it would reappear. It clearly has not. Try this one - it's actually almost identical to your father's if I remember it correctly. Ten inches, hawthorn wood, with a unicorn hair core." _

_His eyes widened with excitement at the thought of having something similar in common with his father. He might look like him, but everyone was always commenting on how much he was like his mother. "Do you think the hair is from the same unicorn?"_

_"Probably not," Mr. Ollivander said. "Unicorn hairs are too common to find a match unless purchased at the same period of time. But I have a good feeling about this one, so give it a go." _

_Holding the wand in his hand, he looked up at his father, who gave him a small wink and a nod. "Give it a go, Leo. You can't make much more of a mess than you already have." _

_Leo laughed at his father's dry joke, and did as he was told. Suddenly, everything around him moved back to their original places, and the shop looked just as it did when it walked in. "Wow! Dad! Dad did you see!"_

_Draco and Mr. Ollivander both laughed. "I certainly did, Leo." _

_"So does this mean that this is my wand?" Leo eagerly asked Mr. Ollivander. _

_Mr. Ollivander gave a nod. "It certainly does, Mr. Malfoy." _

_With Leo's wand wrapped up in its box and placed neatly in a bag, Draco paid for the wand and gave Mr. Ollivander a polite nod as they left the store. Draco found himself somewhat surprised when Leo's hand found his. Scorpius had grown out of holding his hand a long time ago - despite the fact that he would still hold Hermione's every now and then, but Draco wasn't going to begrudge a moment of it. Leo going off to Hogwarts was just another sobering reminder that his children were growing up - and fast. _

_They met Hermione halfway on their path to Twilfits, and the moment Leo saw his mother, he raced straight towards her. "Mum! Mum you'll never guess what happened!" _

_Hermione laughed. "You found a wand?"_

_"Well of course I found a wand, Mum - it's why we went!" Leo said with his mother's sense of exasperation. "But guess what!" _

_"What, Darling?" _

_"Mr. Ollivander found me a wand and it's just like Dad's wand!" he exclaimed with pure glee. "It's almost identical - that's what Mr. Ollivander said!" _

_Hermione looked up at her husband, who gave a mere shrug as he pocketed his hands inside his jacket. "Did you hear that?" She asked with feigned wonder._

_"Almost reassuring really," Draco teased. "If we didn't look the same, I'd swear he wasn't mine." _

_She gave him a playful swat on the arm before linking hers with his. "That's not even funny," she replied. "Come on, Leo - let's go get Katie from Anya's house. I know she's dying to see your wand." _

Leo felt an arm nudge him. He looked away from Professor McGonagall as she stood at the front of the hall, explaining how the Sorting hat worked. He looked to his left and saw Mickey Finnegan, the freckle faced boy he met on the train. They were fast friends, and spent the entire time on the way to Hogwarts talking about their favorite Quidditch teams and what they hoped Hogwarts would be like.

"Are you hoping you'll be a Slytherin?" Mickey asked.

Leo shrugged. "Mum and Dad said that if it really means that much to me, I can ask, but I don't know. I don't want to tell the Sorting Hat what to do."

Mickey nodded. "It does look like a pretty grumpy hat."

"Just a bit."

"Well," Mickey said reassuringly. "We can still be friends, even if we're in different houses, right?"

Leo nodded quickly. "Definitely. Which house do you hope to be in?"

"Me dad was a Gryffiindor and me mum was a Hufflepuff. I figure it could go either way. I'm secretly hoping for Gryffindor though. But I didn't tell me mum that."

"My mum was a Gryffindor."

"A famous Gryffindor," Mickey added. "Everyone knows who your mum is, mate. And your dad."

"My dad isn't a bad guy anymore," Leo quickly defended.

Mickey nodded quickly. "Oh I know. My dad works with him at the Ministry. Says he's wicked smart at a lot of things. Your mum, too. I bet you'll be at the top of our class with smarts like that. You'll probably have to tutor me."

Leo grinned. "I'm sure you're just as smart. We can help each other."

"Look," Mickey said, pointing towards the front of the hall. "They're calling for the first years. Let's go!"

Leo followed Mickey along with the crowd of first years, all in their plain grey and black uniforms towards the front of the room. Leo looked over to the far left of the room, and saw Scorpius, sitting with his friends. Catching his attention, Scorpius gave him a thumbs up and mouthed the phrase _it'll be fine_. He looked a ways back towards the end of the Slytherin table and saw Claire, who looked as if she were waiting for Leo to find her. He gave her a small smile, and she replied with a wink.

One by one, the first year names were announced, and suddenly, it was Mickey's turn. Leo watched as Mickey confidently strolled up to the stool and sat down, closing his eyes as the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. Leo watched as the hat murmured and mumbled, only taking a few seconds before bellowing out the word _Gryffindor_. Leo laughed as Mickey did a fist pump in the air, before jogging over to the Gryffindor table for high fives and congratulations.

Suddenly, he heard Professor McGonagall's crisp voice announce his name, and the entire hall went dead quiet. It hadn't been this quiet for the others, but Anya, Claire, and Scorpius all told him it would the moment his name was called. _It's just because of Mum and Dad, _Scorpius told him. _Don't let it psych you out._

Walking up to the stool, he took a seat and looked up at Professor McGonagall, whose eyes smiled brighter than her lips, as she placed the hat on his head.

"Hmmm," the Sorting Hat mumbled, as if he'd been given a delicious puzzle. "Interesting, definitely unexpected, knowing who your parents are. You are brave and loyal to a fault, very intelligent, very forgiving, with a thirst for knowledge and the desire to prove yourself…but where should you go?"

Leo bit his lip. "Just put me where you think is best," he said quietly.

"Put you where I think is best?" the Sorting Hat asked. "Well, in that case, better be…GRYFFINDOR!"

The entire hall was silent, for certain another Malfoy would head into Slytherin. Leo interpreted the silence as shock, and not of the good sort, until he saw his friend, Mickey, jump on top of the bench seat to cheer at the top of his lungs. Soon, all of the Weasley kids he knew started to cheer as well, and with a wolf whistle from his sister, everyone was clapping and cheering for Gryffindor's newest recruit.

Approaching the table, Leo took a seat next to Mickey and gave him a high five. "Thank goodness we only have to do that once!" Leo exclaimed.

"Right!" Mickey replied. "This is going to be the best year ever. Let's make sure our bunks are next to each other, ok?"

"Definitely," Leo replied. He was officially a Gryffindor, just like everyone said he would be, and he was a proud one at that. He couldn't wait to write to his parents to tell them all about it.


	2. Welcome Home Katie

**_These updates will probably be quicker than my other stories, mainly because I have a gazillion of these things that I wrote down while writing _The Request_ but never managed to use. I hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long will she be asleep?"

The Healer looked at Draco and then back down at his clipboard. "Your wife has lost a lot of blood."

He was too concerned for Hermione that he didn't bother correcting the Healer in regards to their lack of marital status. "You're not answering my question."

"A few days, probably," the Healer replied. "We have a few other potions we would like to administer with your consent, and while we do that, would you like to come see your daughter?"

His daughter. Draco felt a wave of guilt wash over him. He hadn't thought about his daughter outside of the moment when James' patronus burst into his meeting. Looking over his shoulder, James was still sitting in the corner, still chewing his thumbnail, looking positively scared. "James," Draco said, trying to sound stronger than he felt. When James didn't respond, he walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "James," he said again. "Come with me."

James shook his head. "I don't want to leave Aunt Hermione."

"Come on," Draco said. "Let's let the Healers work. We'll come right back."

James looked up at Draco and swallowed hard. "Where are we going?"

"To see Katherine."

The two men were led down the maternity ward by a nurse in silence. They rounded the corner towards the magical NICU, and were handed gowns and hats by another nurse. "You have to wear these," they were both told. "And make sure you wash your hands thoroughly and then cast a _scourgify_ all over you for good measure before we buzz you in.

Draco and James did as they were told, putting on the paper thin gowns and matching hats. As James tied the strings behind his neck, he had a sudden thought. "Anya should be here soon, with Richard and Jean."

Draco's face fell. Another thing he didn't think about - Hermione's parents. "Fuck. Ok. That's good," he managed to respond. "She didn't have rehearsal?"

He shook his head. "It's my first weekend off in months…and she had the day off. That's why I was at the house, looking for a dress she couldn't find. After I sent you a patronus, I sent her one."

Nodding, Draco scrubbed his hands so hard he was sure they would bleed. Once dried, he whipped his wand around and muttered the _scourgify_ spell, and hit the buzzer to be let into the room. James was right behind him as he walked into the dim room, the hum of magic practically static as they looked for the nurse who was pointing to them as to what they were looking for.

"She's tiny," James warned Draco just before they got to the encased crib. "Really…tiny."

Really tiny was hardly an appropriate description, Draco thought to himself, at the first sight of her. She was dwarfed by the baby blanket she was wrapped up in, and the hat on her head that was nearly two sizes too big. He could already see though that she was a spitting image of her mother. She had the same button nose and lips. All of his children when they were born had been anywhere from 3.8 - 4.5 kilograms, but Katherine Elizabeth, named for her sisters, was just a hair over one kilogram, according to the small card attached to her crib.

"Would you like to hold her?" the nurse asked.

"Is that even possible?"

"Oh certainly, Mr. Malfoy," the nurse replied with a warm smile. "She's not the smallest baby we have in here. She'll be in the NICU for a few weeks, but she's stable enough to be held for a little bit." She lifted the plastic lid over the encased crib and carefully picked up the tiny bundle and gently placed her in his arms. "Mr. Potter over here did a good thing, getting her and her mother here as fast as he did. Definitely prevented this from being a worst case scenario."

James looked at the baby girl in Draco's arms. He felt much relief in seeing her, as she looked far better now than he did when he delivered her on the floor of Draco and Hermione's bathroom. "Katherine Elizabeth. She's got a terribly big name for a little girl."

Draco smiled just a little bit. "She does. We may need a nickname."

"We should call her Katie," James said softly. "She looks like a Katie."

A tapping on the thick glass window caught both of their attention. Anya was standing there, her damp hair up in a mess of a bun, with very scared grandparents standing behind her. Draco was torn, knowing he needed to put Katie back in her crib, but he also knew he needed to explain everything that was happening with Hermione, as they were about as out of place here as he was in the hospital where Leo was born. "Hold your arms out," Draco said to James.

"Huh?"

"You saved her, you may as well hold her if I can't," Draco replied. He carefully handed his daughter over to James, who instinctively cuddled the baby close to him. "I'm going to forget say this later if I don't now, but thank you."

James swallowed hard as his eyes welled with tears he was forcing to fade away with each blink. "Yeah," he managed to hoarsely reply.

Draco left the NICU area and stripped himself of the gown and hat, tossing it into a marked bin. He walked into the hallway and looked at Anya. "The nurses will tell you what you need to do first, but go in with James. He's spooked."

"Spooked?"

"Yeah," Draco replied.

He gave his daughter a hug and a kiss and then motioned for Richard and Jean to follow him back to Hermione's room. He did his best to explain everything he could remember the Healers telling him upon his arrival. That she'd lost a lot of blood. That her magic was as unstable as they had ever seen. That they were giving her potions to keep her asleep, to get her magic under control, and to replenish her blood. Draco told him that they wouldn't see machines or hear noises, but that once they were done giving her the blood replenishing potions, they would keep her on the sleeping potion until the Healers felt like she was healthy enough to start waking up on her own.

"How long will she be asleep?" Richard asked.

"A few days," Draco said.

Jean's eyes welled with tears as they walked into the room and saw Hermione, as lifeless as they'd ever seen her. She had blankets pulled up to her chin, and her hair was halfway falling out of the ponytail it'd once been in. "And you're certain she'll be ok?"

"The Healers say she'll be fine," Draco said, though the tone of his voice had an edge along the lines of believing it when he saw it for himself.

"And Katherine?"

Draco dragged an exhausted hand over his face. "She's tiny, and the nurse says she'll be here for several weeks, but she looks _just_ like Hermione."

* * *

"What do you mean she's asleep?"

"She's in a coma?"

"Daddy, I want to see Mummy!"

Draco sighed at the questions being simultaneously asked by Scorpius, Claire, and Leo at Harry and Ginny's house. He'd finally left the hospital after spending a few hours there, and with the promise that Richard and Jean would stay there until he returned, he came back to figure out what to do with his other children. Six-year-old Leo looked about ready to cry as he was beginning to realize he wasn't going to see his mother tonight, and Harry picked him up before the tears could fall.

"Listen, children," Draco said with another heavy sigh. "Mummy has had a hard time being pregnant. We all know this. And because your sister was born early today, it's caused some issues. Mummy has to stay asleep to let the Healers make her feel better, and your sister is going to have to stay at the hospital for several weeks until she's big enough to go home.

Claire rolled her eyes as she slouched into the couch. "I told you guys another kid wasn't a good idea."

"Claire!" Anya shouted, as she stood next to James on the other side of the room. "What in the hell is wrong with you!"

"Well look what happened!" Claire shouted back. "Dad and Hermione had another baby and now Hermione's sick in the hospital just like Mummy was and now she's probably going to die too!"

"What!" Scorpius shouted.

"No one is fucking dying!" Draco's voice boomed throughout the living room, silencing everyone. He stared at his daughter with a steely glare. "If you - do not readjust your attitude in the next five minutes - I will redo it for you," he promised Claire. "I don't have time to deal with whatever your problem has been for the past few months. Do you understand me?"

Claire stared back just as hard, her arms over her chest. "Fine."

Ginny looked over at James, whose face was as red as the curtains he stood next to. "James, are you feeling alright."

"I feel hot," James replied. He'd barely said a word to anyone - Anya included - since this all happened.

"I don't know how, with the house as cold as your mother has it," Harry tried to joke.

James shook his head, and quickly headed towards the kitchen. Anya immediately followed him, along with Ginny, and watched as James lurched over the kitchen sink. He thought he was going to vomit, but he didn't. Instead, he turned on the kitchen faucet as cold as he could and stuck his head underneath it as he began to cry. His hands held onto the edge where the sink met the counter like a vice grip as he tried to catch his breath while the day seemingly began to catch up to him.

"Anya," Ginny said. "Come take your hands like this," she showed her, placing Anya's hands on the back of James' neck, "and push them up, your pinkies following the curve of the back of his ears, alright? If he's anything like his father, this will help him relax a bit."

Anya nodded, and did what Ginny showed her to do, rubbing the back of his neck all the way up the back of his head. "Everyone's ok, James," she repeated every so often. "You were so brilliant today So brilliant."

James couldn't respond. Instead he continued to cry silently, though he didn't seem to feel as unable to breathe as he did a few moments ago. He closed his eyes, focusing on Anya's hands. She felt him move away from rubbing her neck and instead, using the hose sprayer on the sink to douse his entire head wet, massaging his scalp as she went. It felt more relaxing to him than her previous ministrations.

Finally able to speak, James felt the faucet turn off. "Here," he heard his mother say to Anya.

"Oh thanks," Anya replied, and James knew what she was thanking her for the moment the towel hit his head. She dried his head off the same way she would dry off a child, and gave his back a pat. "You ok now?"

"I'm going to make a shit auror," James said hoarsely.

Ginny looked at her son as he stood upright, Anya putting the towel around his shoulders. "What on earth would make you think that?"

"I'm a fucking mess!" James hissed. "Hermione's in the hospital, my hands were literally the only thing that kept Katie from hitting the bathroom floor and there was so much blood…I'm going to get sick again thinking about it. I'm going to make a shit auror, Mum. What happens if something worse than this happens out in the field?"

Ginny stared at her son, remembering a similar scenario of sorts playing out when Harry was in auror training. "Honey, you did everything you were supposed to do. You listened to Hermione. You got both her and her daughter to the hospital in one piece through the floo - which was an infinitely better choice than apparating - which is what a hot head would have done and that could have caused much more damage."

"But Mum -"

"It hurts worse because it's Hermione." Ginny said, cutting her son off. "But you did everything right today. You didn't panic and shut down in the moment - and if you had then yes, you would make a shit auror, but you didn't, and you aren't. As long as you react after everything's over, then you're fine. Besides - the first time your father came home after a horrible mission during his early years, he apparated straight into this kitchen, dropped his bag, and threw up all over the floor before I could even get a hello out of my mouth. And you wouldn't call your dad a shit auror, would you?"

James shook his head no. "Of course not."

"Well then, there you have it," Ginny replied. She walked over and kissed his cheek. "You were very brave today, and I'm sure Draco and his entire family are grateful for everything you did."

She left the two of them in the kitchen, and Anya looked over at James as he now leaned against the counter top, using the towel around his neck to dry his hair some more. "I guess this put a damper on our free weekend."

Anya stood up on her tip toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing a searing kiss to his lips. "Thank Merlin you were home this weekend," she replied as she pulled away.

He wrapped his arms around her tiny frame and sighed, burying her face into her neck. "I've never been more scared in my entire life," he mumbled.

"I know," Anya replied. "Come on…let's go see what Dad needs us to do."

**BREAK**

The three days Hermione was asleep felt like an eternity. Draco refused to bring the children - other than Anya - to see her. He didn't want them to see her like this, and he knew she wouldn't want that in their memory banks. It was hard enough letting Anya see her, but as she was coming back and forth from the house to the hospital, it was hard to keep her from doing so.

On the third day, Anya brought clothes and some toiletries for Hermione, as they were hopeful she would wake today. "She has more color," she noted to her father, who was sitting right next to her bed holding her hand. "Looks a lot better, don't you think?"

"She'd look a lot better if she woke up," Draco grumbled, though he did so with a kiss to Hermione's hand. "I take it Richard and Jean are at the house minding the heathens?"

Anya laughed. "Yes. They've got some of their colleagues covering their patients for the next couple of weeks. Claire's still being Claire, Scorpius is trying very hard to act tough but I've caught him cuddling up to Grandma Jean more than once, and Leo…he just wants to see Hermione. If she wakes today, we need to bring Leo to see her."

Draco nodded. He reached a hand over and brushed it against Hermione's forehead. "Do you hear Anya?" he gently asked. "You need to wake up today, so Leo can see you."

"Along with the rest of them," Anya added. She pulled out a small bag from the bigger tote she brought with Hermione's things and opened it, pulling out some tiny baby clothes and headbands. "I stopped at a store near my flat and picked up a few outfits they had in preemie size - that's what Muggles call babies when they're very small. The nurse says we can put her own clothes on her, as long as it had long sleeves and legs so that she stays warm."

"And those?" Draco asked, nodding towards the headbands.

"It's never too early to accessorize, Dad," Anya replied with a scoff. "And they match the outfits."

"Well thank Merlin for that," he mocked. "Shouldn't you be off spinning about today?"

She shook her head no, tucking some loose strands of hair back behind her ears. "I requested a leave of absence."

"Anya no -"

"Dad, even when Hermione wakes up, you're going to need help," Anya argued, cutting him off. "I talked with James about it, and he agrees it's best for everyone. Even when September rolls around, you're only losing Claire to Hogwarts if she survives that long, and Hermione is going to need help. I'm moving back into the Manor for the next couple of months, and you aren't talking me out of it."

Draco frowned. "Claire still in a mood?"

"She's the teenager we all thought she'd be," Anya cheeked. "I spoke with her this morning though, and I told her I was moving back in, and wasn't going to take any of her mouth…so we'll see what happens."

Hermione's arm twitched, catching both of their attention. Anya quickly moved to the other side of the bed as Draco stood up. "Granger? Granger can you hear me?"

Her arm moved again, her hand faintly squeezing his.

"Hermione?" Anya said quietly. "Hermione will you wake up? Please?"

Her head moved slightly, and her eyes began to flutter. Slowly but surely, about a minute later - the longest minute of Draco's life - Hermione's eyes opened as she blinked a few times.

"Can you hear me?" Draco asked.

She gave him the smallest of nods. "Baby?" she whispered.

"She's beautiful," Draco said, exhaling a sigh of relief. "She's tiny, but the Healers promise she'll grow. They're just trying to stabilize her magic. Katie took a lot out of you."

"Katie?" Hermione asked with half a voice.

Draco smiled. "James thought she needed a nickname."

Her face slacked off to horror at the sound of James' name. "Oh God," she said. "James."

"He's fine," Anya reassured Hermione. "Probably scarred for life, but he's fine now."

Twin tears fell from Hermione's eyes as she looked back over at Draco. "I'm…so sorry."

He brushed them away and smiled at her. "Why are you sorry, love?"

She sniffled. "Because…because I knew I shouldn't have been moving around much. I just…I just wanted to take a bath and…"

"Hey," Draco whispered. "Stop crying, alright? Everything is fine. We're going to go get a Healer to make sure everything is ok, and then we're going to put you in a wheelchair so you can see your daughter, alright?"

She sniffled again. "Alright. I'm so sorry Draco."

"Stop apologizing," Draco gently scolded. "I'm just glad you're alright. Now - I'm going to go find a Healer, and while I do that, Anya can show you the baby clothes she picked out for our daughter. They apparently come with matching headbands."

Anya stuck her tongue out at her father. "Welcome back to the world of little girls, Dad."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Anya brought her sister, her brother, and her grandparents back to St. Mungo's, and walked them over to NICU. As they were all underage, they couldn't go in and hold the baby, but Draco was able to bring Katie over to the window. Hermione sat in a rocking chair next to Katie's crib, looking tired, waving at her parents as Draco walked Katie to the window. She couldn't believe she'd been asleep for three days. She still couldn't believe James helped her give birth. She did, however, tell her Healers to do whatever they needed to do because this was officially her last child. She didn't think a pregnancy could be as hard as Leo's, and she was wrong after having Katie. Two was enough for her. She smiled at Leo, who was hanging onto Anya's back, his little chin resting on his big sister's shoulder as he looked at Katie with awe. Scorpius grinned at his new sister, and Claire seemed to smile as well. She was not as accommodating to this pregnancy as she was when Leo was born. She was also a teenager, testing any and all limits she could. Where Anya was stubborn at that age, Claire was dramatic.

"Mummy!" Leo's shouted, though his voice muffled through the window. "Mummy I want to see you!"

She blew Leo a kiss, and nodded. She wanted to see them just as badly. The nurse came over and said it was time to put Katie back into her incubator crib, and so with that, they each gave Katie a kiss goodbye until they saw her again in a few hours to feed her.

Draco wheeled Hermione back into her room, and despite Hermione's protests, picked her up and placed her into the bed. Once she was properly covered up, he plucked Leo off of Anya's back and set him next to Hermione on her right, while Scorpius crawled up on her left side. She kissed the heads of her two tow-headed boys and hugged them close to her.

"Mummy I missed you!" Leo exclaimed, snuggling as close as he could.

"I missed you too," Hermione said with a smile.

"Dad said you had to sleep to get better," Scorpius added. "You're…you're better now, right?"

Hermione nodded, seeing the fear in his eyes. "I'm just tired, but I'm better. I'll be home in a few days."

"Promise?" Scorpius asked.

"Yes," Hermione said, nuzzling her nose against his. "Have you been good for Grandma and Grandpa?"

Scorpius and Leo both nodded. "We cleaned our rooms today - and I even cleaned under the bed!"

Hermione grinned. "Well that sounds productive. Did you find anything you were looking for?"

"Yes - one of my missing Quidditch gloves," Scorpius said.

"He found the other one under my bed!" Leo added.

Hermione looked over at Leo with a peculiar look. "Your bed? How did that happen?"

"Who knows," Scorpius replied. "I lose everything."

Everyone laughed at Scorpius' blunt honesty. He did lose everything.

"Can you come home sooner?" Claire blurted out of nowhere as the laughter died down.

Hermione looked over at Claire, her arms braced tightly against her chest. "I'm not sure, sweetheart. I'm sure I'll have to stay here for at least two days, and then your dad and I are going to be here a lot until Katie can come home."

"But as a patient, it's just two days?"

Hermione nodded. "As long as everything goes the way it's supposed to."

Claire nodded, hugging her arms even tighter as she looked up at the ceiling, biting her lips together. Her toe started to incessantly tap as she shifted her gaze to look away from everyone, before Anya realized she was mere seconds away from imploding. "Boys?" Anya said to her brothers. She pulled a couple of galleons she had in her pocket and handed them to Scorpius. "Why don't you go take Grandpa with you and see if you can't find some ice cream?"

"Yes!" Scorpius shouted.

"But we haven't had dinner yet," Leo said with a furrowed brow.

"It'll be ok just this once," Anya quickly said. "Now come on - off you go."

"Come along," Richard added, eying Claire as he ushered the boys out of the room.

Hermione looked at Claire. "Come here."

She shook her head no.

"Claire," Hermione whispered. "Claire come here. Everything is going to be fine."

"Mummy said that once and it wasn't fine!" Claire suddenly cried out. "And now you're here just like she was!"

"Those were - and are completely difference circumstances," Hermione gently said. "Now come here."

She didn't balk at the request this time, but instead was in Hermione's bed with her face buried against her chest in an instant. She cried gut wrenching sobs into Hermione's fluffy yellow robe, and Hermione replied by hugging her as close as she could, whispering something inaudible to everyone else in her ear. Draco sat on the other side of Hermione's bed, rubbing Claire's back while Anya walked over to the chair Grandma Jean was sitting on and sat down on her lap.

"I figured she'd crack sooner or later," Jean said.

"I'm shocked she lasted this long," Anya replied.

* * *

The six weeks that passed before Katie could come home were exhausting on all parties. Hermione still wasn't 100% recovered, and wouldn't be unless she followed her Healer's orders to get as much rest as possible. But she insisted on being at the hospital for days at a time, insisting on feeding Katie as she was upset they had to bottle feed her while she was in her induced coma. Draco would go back and forth between the hospital and the house, and while Richard and Jean were much help at home, it was Anya who kept the house from completely falling apart. She managed to whip Claire's attitude into shape - a slow process that tested the majority of her patience - but it was well worth it to see Claire's interactions with everyone grossly improving.

Claire came with Draco the day they were discharging Katie from the hospital. She was still a dainty little thing, but her magic had stabilized, she could maintain her own body temperature, and she was right at 3.0 kilos - enough by the Healer's standards to go home. When they arrived in the room they'd put Hermione in while she waited for the paperwork, Claire saw that Katie was dressed in the pink sun dress that she picked out, with matching socks and a bow clipped in her curly brown head of hair.

"Hi Katie!" Claire cooed, holding her arms out as she walked towards Hermione. Hermione handed her daughter over to Claire and smiled. "Hi," Claire cooed again. "You look so pretty in your outfit! And we get to go home today!"

"Finally," Hermione added, looking somewhat relaxed for the first time in weeks as Draco took a seat next to her. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione. "What's this?" she asked.

"Just something small," he replied. "Open them up and see."

She pried open the small velvet box to reveal a set of ruby studs inside. "Draco…they're gorgeous."

"And before you make a snarky remark about how it must have pained me to purchase something Gryffindor red, I'll have you know that's our daughter's birthstone…therefore softening the blow."

Hermione grinned, and thanked him properly with a kiss. "They're wonderful," she mumbled against his lips before kissing him again. "I'm so glad we're coming home."

"Me too," Draco replied. "I'm tired of sleeping without you."

With several signatures and a bunch of paperwork later, they were finally able to take Katie home, and were surprised to find a small welcome home party set up and waiting for them when they stepped out of the floo. A large sign that said "Welcome Home Katie!" was taped up between the living room and the dining room, and their family, along with the Potters, were anxiously awaiting to see Katie without a glass partition between them. Draco set the baby carrier down on the coffee table and Hermione walked over to hug her parents, then Harry and Ginny. While Draco carefully unbuckled Claire with an audience of Scorpius and Leo, Hermione walked over to James and gave him a sincere smile. "Have I scarred you for life?"

"Only to the point that I may never have children," James teased.

"I haven't had a chance to thank you," Hermione seriously said, her voice soft. "I've thought so many times what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

James exhaled heavily, wrapping an arm around Anya. "Me too," he confessed. "I'm just glad - relieved - that you're both alright."

"You're sticking around this weekend, right?"

He nodded. "I have it off. My boss thought it'd be a good idea."

"Sounds like a reasonable guy."

"The complete opposite," James teased.

"Hey now!" Harry called out, shaking a finger at his son. "I'm incredibly reasonable."

Everyone took their turn holding Katie, all of them commenting how much bigger, but still how she was the smallest baby. Jean had br+ought over some of Hermione's old baby pictures, so they could see just how identical the two of them were, much to everyone's delight and amusement. Draco and Hermione were both shocked at how interested Scorpius was in holding Katie, and how serious he took it as he was a laid back kind of child that didn't take much of anything too serious. Leo, however, was not interested in anything but Hermione's lap, and eventually fell asleep against her. Draco offered to carry him upstairs but Hermione waved him off. She'd missed this, and was perfectly content on staying put in the big leather chair as long as Leo continued to sleep.

James and Anya sat down on the couch adjacent to Hermione, Anya curling up next to James as he draped an arm over her shoulders. Draco looked at the two of them and decided this would be a perfect moment for James to hold Katie while the other adults were in the kitchen helping the kids get some lunch. "Here," he said, putting Katie into the crook of James' free arm. "Enjoy her, and then remember you don't want one of these for a while."

Anya rolled her eyes as James laughed. "I don't know, Draco. She's pretty cute."

"We'll let you get up with her a couple of times in the night - then you'll see how cute she really is," Draco teased as he took a seat in an empty wing-back chair.

Hermione softly brushed her hand through Leo's thick blond hair. She'd been feeling massive amounts of guilt in the recent weeks. If she was home she wasn't with Katie, and if she was with Katie then she wasn't at home. And then she felt guilty because Anya took time away from her ballet to be home with her siblings, but to be truthful, Hermione wasn't sure what she would have done without her, even with the added help of her parents. The maturity of their oldest daughter had not gone unnoticed since her graduation from Hogwarts, and it pleased both Draco and Hermione. Her attitude and how she handled herself was certainly older than her mere twenty years, and they felt the same way about James. They both knew, along with Harry and Ginny, that it was only a matter of time before the two of them became engaged and married.

Draco looked over at Hermione, and gave her a knowing nod in the direction of Anya. "While we have a quiet moment, do we want to talk to them?" he asked her.

Hermione smiled. "Sure."

James and Anya looked up at Draco and Hermione. "What?"

"Your father and I have had a lot of time to talk while we sat at the hospital," Hermione said, shifting Leo slightly in her lap. "And first, we cannot thank you enough for your help these past six weeks."

"It was nothing," Anya replied. "James is gone all the time with training, and so it just made sense. Besides, the season doesn't pick up until I return, and the director says I probably have one more year of pulling off a teenage girl in _The Nutcracker_ before I have to give it up so it's not like I'm learning something completely new."

"Well, it was very selfless of you either way," Hermione said. "And your father and I, well, after we sat down and really thought about everything, we were wanting to ask you - well, you and James - a very important question."

James moved Katie out of the nook of his arm and propped her up on his chest, her small fussy cries quickly subsiding as he gave her back a light rub. "Sure - what's up?"

Draco cleared his throat, and looked right at the two of them. "This isn't coming from any place other than the fact that we, after this experience, realized that we have older children and younger children. We aren't sick, we aren't planning on going anywhere anytime soon, but we realize that we need guardians for your siblings if something were to ever happen to us."

"Which it won't," Hermione quickly added. "I'm officially done having babies; it's physically impossible for it to ever happen again, and your father is in perfectly good health."

"But we would still feel better," Draco continued, "If we could put it on paper somewhere, just like we did with Granger when your mother passed away, that if something were to ever happen to us that the two of you would become the guardians of your sisters and your brothers."

"And," Hermione added with a smile. "We would like for the two of you to be Katie's godparents."

"Seriously?" Anya and James asked in tandem.

"Yes," Draco replied.

"To both," Hermione added. "Katie wouldn't be here without you, James, and Anya, I know it's a little nontraditional, because you're her sister, but there isn't anyone else we'd rather choose."

Draco leaned back in the chair, propping his ankle up on his opposite knee. "We also assume this relationship of yours is pretty permanent."

"Of course it is," Anya replied.

"She's already broken me in," James added in a teasing voice. "It's taken years for her to get me this way. She doesn't have that kind of time to do that again with someone else."

Anya rolled her eyes, but leaned over and kissed his cheek anyway. "If you weren't holding my sister, I'd smack you."

"I'm probably going to hold her forever then," he playfully retorted.

Anya looked over at her dad, and then Hermione as she leaned against James. "You're serious about this."

"Absolutely," Hermione replied. "Your siblings look up to you, they listen to you, and I know…that when I was at the hospital," she stopped speaking momentarily, trying very hard not to cry as her hormones were still all over the place. "I knew that when I was at the hospital, it was ok for me to be there…because you were here, and you were taking care of things when I couldn't."

Draco got up from his chair and walked over to Hermione, sitting on the arm of the chair as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Well I say yes to all of it," James softly replied. His big hands picked Katie up as he leaned forward, holding her back in his hands so he could take a good look at her. "Because as far as goddaughters go, you're pretty cute. And I'm sure we're going to have lots of fun together. We can go to the zoo, and we can go flying, and we can go swimming, and we can have slumber parties!"

"I feel like I've been replaced," Anya said with a laugh.

"Anya can come too if she wants," James added with a smirk.

"Gee - thanks," Anya snarked. "I agree too, though. I would be happy to be Katie's godmother, and I will gladly be their guardian as long as both of you promise not to die until you're at least 150."

I'm sure we can manage that," Hermione said with a laugh. "Besides, it's just for peace of mind. Nothing else."

Anya leaned over, her head resting against James' arm, as she slipped one of her fingers in the grasp of her sister's dainty hand. "Welcome home, Katie. And by the sound of it, you're definitely stuck with us now."

"But as far as people go - we're pretty cool people to be stuck with," James added with good measure.


	3. The Alternate Chapter 37 - Jamie's Here

_**So...this was the original chapter 37 from **__**The Request**__**, when Anya and James had their baby. I don't know why I didn't use this one at the time as I re-read through it, or why I rewrote the other version. In all honesty, I should have morphed the two together somehow.**_

**_Either way - I hope you enjoy what I've dubbed "The Alternate Chapter 37."_**

* * *

Draco never thought he would be a man that could notate his life with the happiest of moments. After all, the first eighteen years of his life were less than pleasant - so it was hard to expect something better. If you asked him today, he would consider marrying Astoria one of the best days. Despite their marriage being a catastrophe, it gave him three of the greatest gifts he could have ever asked for.

Anya and Claire taught him how to be patient, to not take himself - or life - so seriously, and unconditional love.

Scorpius made him want to be a better man.

And then along came Hermione - and her presence from the moment they struck up their friendship made Draco want to prove to the world that he was worthy of standing next to someone as beloved as her. She managed to temper his harsh ways, balance out his often one sided way of viewing the world, and then took on his family and never once faltered. He waited for the moment it became too much. He waited for the moment where his kids would rebel against Hermione.

He waited for the day she walked up to him and said _I can't do it anymore_.

But it never happened. He'd always heard that Hermione Granger was unflappable, and truer words were never spoken once their two unplanned additions came into their world. Leo and Katie were the final pieces that made their blended family complete. It was Leo, after all, who helped soften the sharp edges of Anya's defense mechanism that she'd been building around her for the past several years. Leo took an immediate liking to Anya, and the feeling was mutual. There was more than one occasion after Leo was born that both Draco and Hermione would find Anya asleep in his nursery, curled up in the recliner rocker with her new brother, also sound asleep. He also became a playmate for Scorpius, and the two rarely fought. And Katie - she kept Claire from growing up too fast, always wanting to do anything Claire was doing when she wasn't playing shadow to her two overprotective brothers.

"Daddy? Daddy?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at Katie, who'd climbed up into his lap.

"Daddy, where did Claire go?"

"Claire's back in the room with Anya," Draco said. "She's going to have a baby soon." He knew when it came closer to the moment, Anya would cave and ask for someone else to be back there other than James. Draco assumed it would be Hermione, but was pleasantly surprised when she asked for Claire instead.

"But why don't I gets to go?"

Scorpius looked up from the chocolate frog cards he and Leo were flipping through and made a face. "You don't want to go back there," he said with a shiver. "There's gonna be blood and guts and -"

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy," Hermione cut off, giving him a look while Katie appeared horrified, Draco's face paling slightly more than it's usual state of being. "You know how your father feels about you talking about blood and guts and whatever else you were planning on adding in there."

He dropped his shoulders. "Sorry, Dad."

"And how do you even know about that anyway?" Hermione asked.

"I saw a book once that Anya left out at the house about having babies - and it was _so_ gross."

"It was _super_ gross," Leo added. "I almost threw up when I saw the pictures."

Hermione's eyes widened as Harry, sitting on the other side of her, started to laugh. "Why on earth would you show that to your brother!"

"Um, because he's my brother…and it was gross," Scorpius replied in a sarcastic, Mafloy-esque drawl.

"Just stop talking, Scorpius," Draco advised his son. "You're only going to make it worse."

The two boys went back to their chocolate frog cards as Lily and Ginny came back into the room, carry cardboard cup trays of coffee for the grownups in the room. "Are your parents not here yet?" Ginny asked, handing Hermione a cup of coffee.

She shook her head. "They said they'd come by once we had news. They're not much for waiting in hospitals. Dad gets antsy and it drives Mum crazy."

"Daddy?"

Draco looked back at Katie. "Yes sweetheart?"

"Where do babies come from? How's he going to get outside YaYa's belly?"

Eyes wide, Draco thought very carefully about how to answer this question, until he heard a snicker. "You know what, I'm not sure. You should ask Uncle Harry. He's _very_ knowledgable about these sorts of things."

The adults, along with Lily, could hardly contain their laughter at Harry's terrified expression, and Katie's mainline bolt out of Draco's lap and into Harry's as she patiently waited for an answer. While Harry stammered and mumbled about, Draco looked across the waiting room and saw Albus flipping through the 3rd year Care of Magical Creatures book, _the Monster book of Monsters_. Standing up from his seat, he bent down and pecked Hermione on the lips before walking over to join Albus.

"It might just be across the room, but it's already quieter on this side," he joked, sitting down next to Albus.

Albus looked up from his book and laughed. "Which is precisely why I'm over here."

"You were always the quiet one."

"That's because I'm more Potter than I am Weasley," he teased.

Draco glanced down at his watch. It was almost seven in the evening. He was going to be a grandfather at any moment. Draco Malfoy - a grandfather. The thought was almost as hard to fathom as it was the day he became Draco Malfoy - a father. He didn't expect to see eighteen when his father let the Dark Lord take over their house and turn it into his headquarters. There were days he was half tempted to jump in the middle of a killing curse, just to get what seemed to be the inevitable over with.

He dragged a hand over his tired face, his body tired of waiting as he leaned forward and sighed. His elbows resting on his knees, Draco clasped his hands together rolled his neck once, then twice. He watched Scorpius and Leo, still flipping through their cards, appearing to be sorting them to see what they had duplicates and even triplicates of - the two of them had a goal of collecting all of them, and were nearly halfway there. Leo had a notebook in his lap and a muggle pencil, updating their list to remind them of what they needed to look for, and which ones to discard. Draco closed his eyes, remembering the day he walked into Hermione's hospital room with Scorpius to meet Leo, his sisters off with Hermione's parents to collect dinner as the two had already had their moment to coo over their new brother.

_"Be easy," he minded Scorpius as they approached Hermione, who had Leo snuggled up on the top of her chest. He placed Scorpius down on the bed and watched as Hermione opened up her arm to him, cuddling him close. "Can you say Leo?" Draco asked._

_"We-o," almost three-year-old Scorpius repeated. "Ba-by We-o." _

_Hermione beamed. "Very good, Scorp!" she quietly cheered. _

_Scorpius reached his little hand out to touch the baby, his fingers grazing over his cheek ever so slightly. "Soft," Scorpius whispered. "We-o soft." _

_"He's very soft," Hermione agreed. "Do you like your brother?"_

_"Mine?" Scorpius curiously asked. "We-o mine?" _

_Draco and Hermione laughed. "Yep - he's your brother," Draco said. "What do you think about that?" _

_Scorpius curled up in the crook of Hermione's arm and leaned his head against her bosom, popping his thumb into his mouth. "My mummy," he mumbled. "My We-o." _

"They're like two peas in a pod," Albus commented with a nod in the Malfoy boys' direction.

Draco nodded with a chuckle. "Yes they are. Which I'm quite thankful for…considering it could have gone a completely different direction."

"Considering their completely opposite personalities despite being nearly identical, you're probably right," Albus replied as he shut the book in his lap. "I think I might be over my head with this teaching thing at Hogwarts."

Draco shook his head as he leaned back in the chair. "You'll be great," he reassured him. "You're good with kids - and they'll listen to you because you aren't just telling them something - you've seen most of it. They'll appreciate that about you."

Albus nodded, scratching the spine of the monster book as it contently purred away on his lap. "It'll be weird I guess, working with people every day instead of working by yourself with dragons. I'm kind of looking forward to it though. I reckon I just have some nerves."

"You'll be fine," Draco repeated. "McGonagall doesn't make decisions lightly. I'm sure she put loads of thought into who to replace Hagrid before ultimately choosing you."

Nodding again, Albus scratched the back of his neck slightly, then reached over for his bag to secure his temperamental book away. "It'll definitely give me a much needed distraction."

"Of course," Draco agreed. "I'm sorry about what happened between you and Grace. I'm sure you were disappointed."

"I was…Mum of course wanted to call Nevell to see what was wrong but I told her not to meddle. Grace is a big girl, and she said no," Albus plainly replied. "She was right anyway…about us growing apart. We aren't the same people we used to be in school."

Draco nodded. "I know the feeling."

"I still didn't expect her to say no," Albus added. "But I guess it's better to say no now then to get married and divorce. I still remember bits and pieces from when Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione divorced…only bits, but it's enough to know that I never want to go through it."

"Well, I'm sure the right person is out there for you," Draco stated.

Albus fiddled with his hands, but stayed quiet.

Standing up, Draco clapped a hand on Albus' shoulder and gave it a good squeeze. "I'd like for her to graduate from Hogwarts first before you two do anything, and I'd like her to get through university and dental school, so as long as you don't distract her from the process…I promise I won't kill you at her graduation next year."

"Ex-excuse me?" Albus stuttered.

"I'm not an idiot, son," Draco replied with a sigh. "Just promise me that you two won't be stupid and do something before she graduates Hogwarts."

Albus' cheeks tinted pink. "Draco, I mean Sir, I mean -"

"Just promise me, Albus," Draco interjected. "You aren't that good at lying and I'm not that good at pretending. I just don't want your job to be compromised or Claire's schooling to be affected. I'm not saying you two are doing anything now, but I'm not an idiot, and neither are you."

Albus nodded. "Right. I uh…I promise - if something were to happen, not that I'm saying it would happen, but if it did, it won't happen until after she graduates Hogwarts."

"Good," Draco said.

He gave Albus' shoulder another squeeze before walking away, resuming his seat next to Hermione. He reached his arm towards her and wiggled his fingers. Hermione looked at him with a smile, before giving him what he wanted, her fingers seamlessly weaving together with his. "Hello," Hermione said, giving him a look. "What was all of that about over there just now?"

Draco shrugged, slouching back against the waiting room chair back as he held her hand. "Nothing more than an understanding amongst men."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I can only imagine."

* * *

Anya thought she knew the meaning of the phrase unconditional love. After all, she'd been with James all these years, and through the ups and downs of school, their careers, and life, the two of them never faltered when it came to how much they loved each other. She was sure she knew the meaning of the phrase.

But then she gave her healer one more push, because reaching down to choke him over saying the phrase _one more push_ for what felt like the thirteenth time wasn't an option, and instantly felt the mounting pressure in her body release, her hands squeezing one that belonged to her sister and the other, her husband. Suddenly, a single, loud wail filled the room, and the moment Jamie was placed on top of the blanket waiting for him on her stomach, Anya began to catch her breath and cry all at the same time while nurses quickly worked to clean him as best as they could.

The moment Anya's eyes locked onto her son, she knew that everything she thought about unconditional love was right. What she didn't expect to realize, was how much love she would feel for her son with just one look.

"Oh my god!" Claire exclaimed as she leaned over to kiss her sister's cheek. "Anya! He's beautiful!"

Anya could only nod, as tears streamed down her face. She looked over at James, who had a few tears streaming down his face as well. James brushed a few sweat drenched locks of hair back away from her face. "You did so good," he whispered. "He's perfect."

She nodded, sniffling slightly as James leaned in, kissing his wife hard.

Jamie's cries were still filling the room, and Anya looked up the moment she felt the weight of him removed from her stomach. "Wait - where are you taking him?"

"We'll bring him right back," the nurse promised. "We're just going to get him cleaned up a little bit more and warm him up so he stops his fussing."

Anya didn't want to say yes, but she found herself nodding instead. Her heels still in stirrups, she tried to relax a bit as her healer and another nurse were working to get her cleaned up. "You did beautifully," her healer said. "Not a tear in sight. You should consider yourself lucky - not many first time mothers get away without a scratch."

She rolled her eyes as both James and Claire laughed. "Must he talk to me while doing that?" she asked under her breath.

"He's been looking at your vagina all day," Claire said. "How does it even bother you at this point?"

"It just does," Anya mumbled.

"Ok Mummy and Daddy!" another nurse's voice sang as she made her way back over with a wrapped up bundle in her arms. Reaching the side of the bed where James stood, the nurse leaned over and carefully placed Jamie in Anya's arms and smiled. "Look at what you two did," the nurse added softly before she left the two alone with Claire.

"Look at what we did indeed," James mumbled, leaning down to kiss his son on the top of his head - which was covered in hair.

"Hi Jamie," Anya whispered, brushing the side of her finger against his cheek. "Hi baby. Mummy loves you."

"He looks like James," Claire said, reaching a finger out for her nephew to wrap his finger around.

"He has Anya's nose," James said. "And her lips."

Anya chuckled. "My lips? Really?"

"I'm well acquainted with your lips - therefore I know replication when I see it," James replied, stealing another kiss from his wife.

Shifting Jamie in her arms, she nudged James with her elbow. "You want to hold him?" she asked.

James eagerly nodded, taking the baby from his wife and cuddling him close in the crook of one of his strong arms. "Hey buddy…it's Daddy," he whispered, slipping one of his big fingers inside his son's small hand like Claire was doing previously. "We've been waiting and waiting to meet you."

Jamie's eyes were open wide, blinking as he stared back up at the man who was speaking to him. He was content for a moment, before his little face scrunched up, turned red, and he let out another wail. "Why are you crying?" he cooed, bouncing him slightly. "There's no need to cry."

"He's probably hungry," a nurse offered. "Let's see if we can't get him to nurse, and that'll help us get your placenta delivered and then we can get you cleaned up and ready for your visitors."

Anya made a face as James handed the baby back to her. "Does everyone need to be in here while I try to feed him?" she asked.

The nurse smiled. "We can clear the room if you'd like, but the healer will stay to finish up your delivery, and I'll be in here only to help you get started. Is that alright?"

"I guess," Anya replied.

Claire leaned over and kissed Anya's cheek again. "I'm going to go tell everyone the news, and we'll come in and visit in shifts so we don't overwhelm you, ok?"

Anya nodded. "Tell them Harry and Ginny can come in first, and then Dad and Hermione, and then we'll do the siblings all together…and if Dad asks…just tell him I need to see him last, ok?"

"Of course," Claire said, understanding completely. She looked over at James and raised an eyebrow. "Nice work, Dad."

James laughed. "Thanks."

With Claire out of the room, and the healer working on getting her placenta delivered, Anya allowed the nurse to show her how to set up Jamie in the crook of her arm, how to pull up slightly on her breast to help Jamie - who was already nuzzling - find what he was looking for, and before she knew it, Jamie latched on tightly and began nursing like a champ. "Sweet mother of Merlin this hurts!" she couldn't help but yelp as Jamie continued to suckle.

The nurse smiled. "You'll get used to it, I promise. Let him feed about ten minutes on that side, burp him, then switch him to the other side. You want to try to nurse for the same amount of time on each side."

Anya continued to wince slightly, not only because of James but because her healer was putting gentle pressure against her uterus to help speed up the placenta delivery. Leaning her head back against the pillow, she looked over at James, sitting on the bed with his back to the healer and the nurse to help keep some of her modesty in tact. "I can't believe we are parents."

James smirked. "But we are…and he's so perfect, YaYa." He found her free hand and gave it a squeeze. "You were so brilliant. Just brilliant, love."

She gave him a tired smile. "I'm not sure I did much, other than scream and yell."

"You did everything," James replied. "And now we have a son…and he's just perfect."

Anya looked down at James, contently sucking away, and smiled. "He does look pretty perfect." Sighing, she blinked her eyes and felt twin tears stream down her face as she kept her eyes on her son. "He's just…I just…"

Before she could finish her statement, she felt the healer gently pull her legs out of the stirrups and administer a few cleaning and sterilization charms. "You're all finished, Mrs. Potter," the healer quietly spoke. "We'll leave you two be, and when you need us, just hit the button on the bed."

James looked over his shoulder and gave the healer a nod. "Thanks."

"My pleasure."

Finally alone, James watched as Anya carefully plucked her nipple away from Jamie's mouth and pulled him up to her shoulder, shushing the beginnings of his cries as she burped him. "It's ok," she said, sniffling slightly as she rubbed his back. "It's ok, Jamie." As soon as he belched, Anya pulled her baby away from her chest, slid her bare arm back into the gown sleeve, and with James' help, pulled the other side down and like she'd done it a million times, got Jamie to latch onto her on the first time. "See," she whispered. "That wasn't too bad now was it?"

"Anya?" James asked, noticing another tear stream down her cheek. "Are you ok?"

Anya quickly nodded. "I just…I feel so overwhelmed…I look at Jamie and he's only been here for like, twenty minutes or something and I just…I feel…"

"You want to know why your mother didn't feel the same way," James said, knowing it wasn't a question. He moved from where he was sitting and walked around to the other side of the bed where Jamie was nursing, and sat on the bed next to the two of them. He cupped a hand against her cheek and pulled her face up to look at him. "This ends today," he said, gentle but firm. "It's the perfect day for it. Let today be the day that you become the mother you always wanted Astoria to be. You get to miss her. You're allowed. Today of all days especially. But no more wallowing, ok? No more questioning, no more wondering - she was who she was - and all you have to worry about is being you."

Sniffling, Anya gave him a quick nod and leaned towards him as best as she could, meeting James halfway as he latched his lips to hers, a few tears from her cheeks leaping over to his before he reluctantly pulled away. "You're right," she whispered, looking down at James. She brushed her hand over his mass of black hair and smiled. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," James said. "I just don't think we deserve to have that cloud hanging over our new family."

"I agree," Anya replied with a nod. She looked up at James and smiled as he reached over to tuck the strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail back behind her ear. "I love you," she said. "I love you so much."

James grinned at his wife. "I love you too. And I love you just as much," he said, looking down at his son as he finished his first feeding. Anya carefully plucked Jamie away from her breast and propped him up on her shoulder again, closing her eyes as James kissed her cheek while helping pull her gown back up over her body. Once he burped again, Anya handed Jamie over to James and pulled her hair out of the haphazard ponytail it was in. She quickly pulled it back up and secured it into a bun, trying to make herself look somewhat presentable before the families came strolling to take a peek at the first of what they both hoped to be several additions to their family. "You look beautiful," James said as he gently rocked back and forth on his feet, Jamie cradled in his arms.

"I feel like I'm a mess," Anya replied with a tired laugh.

"Well…you did just have a baby," James said with a wink. "I'm sure that required some effort."

"Only a little bit," she teased. "I think the potions are slowly wearing off…I'm starting to feel below my stomach again, and it's not feeling great."

"I'll find a nurse," he said. He kissed the top of Jamie's head and handed him back to Anya. "Should I go and see if Mum and Dad are coming?"

Anya nodded. "Please."

He pecked her lips before disappearing, leaving the two of them alone in the peacefully quiet room. Looking down at her son, a finger lightly tracing his features, Anya couldn't hardly contain the grin on her face, despite being completely exhausted. "We are going to be a great pair, you and me," she quietly spoke, smiling as Jamie seemed to watch her while she spoke. "Mummy loves you, Jamie" she said again as his big eyes blinked. A sense of content had washed over her, and for a moment, she felt the like weight of the world that she always managed to carry around with her suddenly vanished. "Your eyes are going to be green like your Daddy's," she whispered with a smile. His eyes had a greenish tint to the blue, and she remembered Ginny telling her that James was the same way as a baby. "And you might have my nose," she said. "But I don't think your daddy knows what he's talking about when it comes to your lips, because yours are too cute to be mine."

A knock on the door snapped her head up, and she called for them to come in. Harry stuck his head in first, and Anya smiled with a nod as he and Ginny walked inside with James and a nurse behind them. "Look who's come to visit, Jamie," Anya whispered as Harry and Ginny approached her bed. She handed Jamie to Ginny first, beaming as Ginny carefully held her grandson, her eyes tearing as Harry looked over at him. "Isn't he wonderful?" she asked before taking the potion the nurse handed to her and swallowing the bitter liquid in one gulp.

Ginny nodded. "Oh Anya, he's just beautiful. Isn't he Harry?"

Harry nodded as well, his grin the same as James. "He looks like a Potter with a Malfoy nose. Who would have ever thought the day would come where those two gene pools would mix?"

"Probably the day you kept catching her sneaking over to my bedroom," James replied with a laugh as he sat down on the other side of Anya's bed, kissing the top of her bed as she linked her arm with his.

"I guess I had an inkling," Harry said with a laugh. While Ginny continued to gush over their grandson, Harry approached Anya and kissed her cheek. "You feeling alright?" he asked.

Anya smiled. "I am now. That potion didn't take long to kick in."

"Harry, you want to hold him?"

"You mean you're going to give me a turn?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and carefully passed Jamie over to Harry. Once he was secure in her husband's arms, she walked around the bed so that she could hug the both of them, which they enthusiastically returned. "He's wonderful - he truly is," Ginny said with a teary eyed laugh. "And you're alright?" she asked Anya. "Everything went ok?"

"The healer said I'm perfectly fine - and so is Jamie," Anya replied.

"They haven't taken him back to do tests or anything," James said, "but they told us beforehand that unless it was necessary, they'd leave him with us so you all didn't have to wait."

Harry swayed slightly in place, his eyes fixated on Jamie as he shook the finger his little hand was wrapped around. "He's got quite a grip."

"Of course he does," James replied, his chest instinctively puffing up with pride. "He's obviously going to be brilliant at everything."

"Everything," Ginny agreed. "He is a Potter, after all."

"Half Potter," Anya corrected her mother-in-law with a laugh. "He's half Malfoy too - and we're also known for our brilliance. At least I am, anyway. Who knows about the others," she teased.

Harry kissed his grandson on the forehead and handed him back to Anya. "He's beautiful - not that I had any doubts. Ginny - let's go get Hermione and Draco."

Nodding, Ginny gave each of them another kiss, then kissed her grandson. "We'll be back with the others shortly, ok?"

"Ok," James and Anya said in tandem.

The three of them alone again, Anya shifted over in the bed slightly to make more room for James, who kicked his legs up onto the bed. Pulling his wand from his pocket, he did both of them a favor and just enlarged the width of the bed. "Much better," he said as he pocketed his wand. He leaned over and looked down at his son, not being able to get enough of this small person that he helped make. "He looks so sleepy," he said, watching as Jamie's eyelids were staying closed longer as he continued to be snuggled close against his mother. "Being born must be hard work."

"Almost as hard as the act itself," Anya replied through a yawn.

James snaked his arm around Anya's shoulders, hugging her close as she cuddled into him with their son in her arms. "You sure you're feeling alright?" he asked.

She nodded, looking up at him with a smile. "I've never been better."

* * *

Hermione and Draco walked down the hallway of the maternity wing of St. Mungo's hand in hand. Hermione watched Draco as they walked, his face completely unreadable. "You ok?"

Draco nodded. "I just hate hospitals."

"Even though today is a good day?"

"I guess the day just isn't lost on me," Draco replied with a sigh.

Hermione stopped the two of them right outside of Anya's room and stood up on her tip toes to give him a kiss. "This day has always a weird day for all of us. Eleven years ago, Astoria died today. We shared our very first kiss on this day. But it's not going to be a weird day, or a sad day, for any of us anymore. It's going to be bittersweet - more sweet than anything - because this time next year we'll be celebrating Jamie's first birthday, and many, many birthdays in years to come."

Draco nodded, hugging Hermione close as he leaned against the wall. "How did we get here again?" he asked with a wry laugh.

"With a little bit of luck and a whole lot of love," Hermione replied with a smirk. "Now come on, Grandpa - we have a grandchild to meet."

He obediently followed Hermione into his daughter's room, and was nearly floored at the sight in front of him. His barefaced daughter barely looked old enough to be sitting in the middle of a maternity room, holding a baby of her own - but there she was. He heard Hermione coo with a hushed excitement and watched as she reached Anya's bed, kissing both her and James before admiring the baby.

"Do you want to hold him, Mum?"

Hermione and Anya locked eyes for a moment, both sets welled with tears, and Hermione quickly nodded before taking a sleeping Jamie from her arms. "Oh Anya…he's just perfect," she said. "What a beautiful baby."

"He gets it from his mother," James beamingly replied.

"Oh hush," Anya playfully retorted. "He looks just like you." She looked over at her Dad, standing at the foot of her bed, and gave him a small smile. "Hi Daddy."

Draco grinned at his daughter, his hands in his pockets. "Hi sweetheart." He walked over to the other side of her bed and sat down, and Anya leaned forward, their foreheads touching just like they used to do when she was a little girl, not much older than Katie. Draco kissed the tip of her nose. "You're a mummy now."

Anya giggled slightly as she pulled herself back. "I am, aren't I?" She looked over at Hermione, who nodded towards Draco and handed her Jamie. Kissing his forehead, Anya looked back over at Draco and showed him Jamie. "Can you say hi to Grandpa, Jamie?" she cooed. She picked up his little balled up fist and waved it at her father.

His little eyes opened at the movement, and Draco couldn't help the smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "Come here," he said, carefully taking him from Anya and propping Jamie up with his hands so he could take a good look at him. "Well…would you look at this," he said softly. Jamie's eyes popped open, and Draco chuckled. "Never did I ever think I could instantly fall in love with a Potter…"

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Must you always be so incorrigible?"

"It's a reflex," Draco quietly replied, his eyes still fixated on the newborn in his hands. "You couldn't be a more perfect blend of your parents if you tried, little Jamie." He looked up at James and Anya as he moved Jamie to his chest to cuddle. "Well done, you two. Well done indeed."

"We think so," James replied.

"We do," Anya agreed. "We should probably let the others come in here before I pass out from exhaustion though."

"I'll go get them - and we'll make it quick, alright?" Hermione asked.

Anya nodded, and felt James give her shoulder a squeeze as the two of them watched Draco continue to hold Jamie close, as if he were a coveted treasure. She remembered seeing him hold Scorpius this way when he was born, and then Leo and especially Katie, once she was able to be held. Anya knew he did the same for her and Claire, as there was photographic evidence on the shelves of his office. "Well, what do you think?" Anya asked.

"I think he's wonderful," Draco emphatically replied. "What do you think?"

Anya sighed happily. "I think he's brilliant."

"Well of course he's brilliant," James boasted. As the room door opened, James smirked as Teddy and Albus walked in first. "And here come the troops."

Draco made a face. "I suppose this means I have to share him."

"Just for a moment or two," Anya replied with a laugh.

Reluctantly, Draco handed Teddy the baby and stood back a bit in the room, the siblings crowding around the bed so that they could take a good look at Jamie. He felt two arms slip around his waist and looked down, smiling at a positively giddy Hermione. "He is pretty fantastic, isn't he?"

"He certainly is."

"And I think he likes me best."

"You would think that, now wouldn't you," Hermione replied with a laugh.

The two of them, along with Harry and Ginny, watched as Teddy showed Jamie to Katie, who was being held by Albus so that she could see everything. Having gotten her fix of Jamie, Katie wiggled out of Albus' grasp, and informed him that she wanted to see Anya. Albus carefully put Katie on the bed next to Anya, and Katie snuggled up against her side.

Anya brushed a hand over her smoothed back hair that was bundled up in a ponytail and smiled. "What do you think, buttercup?"

"He's tiny," Katie said.

"You were much smaller, I promise," James said with a slight shudder.

"Grandpa says I'm dainty."

"You most certainly are," Anya agreed. "Do you want to hold Jamie?"

Katie shook her head. "No, I'd just like to sit here. I'll drop him."

Claire, who now had a hold of Jamie, kissed his forehead and looked over at Katie. "You won't drop him if you're sitting with YaYa, Katie."

"No thank you," Katie politely replied. "I just want to sit with YaYa."

Draco and Hermione looked at each other, a little puzzled, and when Hermione looked over at Harry, he shrugged and laughed. "Look at her," Harry said quietly, watching as Katie wiggled her arms so that she was hugging Anya's free one. "She's jealous."

"No!" Hermione quietly gasped. "She can't be!"

"Oh…she is," Ginny agreed with a smile.

Scorpius protested having to sit down in order to hold Jamie, but Claire certainly wasn't about to hand over the baby on a hard floor to someone who hadn't held a baby since Katie. A look from Hermione nipped his complaints in the bud, and Claire carefully placed Jamie in Scorp's arms, making sure Jamie's head was sufficiently propped up. "Wow…" Scorpius said with a smirk. "He's kind of cool."

Everyone laughed. "I'm glad you think so, Scorp," Anya replied.

Scorpius looked over at Leo. "You want to hold him?"

"I'm afraid I'll drop him," Leo replied, shaking his head no. He reached out though and touched the top of his nephew's head lightly. "Maybe I can hold him when he comes home, or at YaYa's house."

Albus shook his head. "Nonsense. Come here."

Leo followed instruction and sat down in a chair right next to Albus, who was in the middle of the two Malfoy boys. Carefully, he took the baby from Scorpius and with instruction from Teddy, Leo held his arms out the way Teddy showed him and Albus handed over to Leo, who bit his lip in a very Hermione like fashion as Teddy kept his hands close by. "See!" Teddy quietly exclaimed. "You're a natural!"

Leo grinned. "I am, aren't I?" He looked over at his parents, his grin growing wider. "I thought I was going to be bad at holding him, but I'm really not!"

Everyone laughed as Leo's honesty, and he held him for a few minutes longer before Lily walked over to take her turn. Needing no help, as she was constantly around babies on the Weasley side of the family, she scooped up Jamie into her arms as if it was an old habit and cooed at little sleepy face in front of her. "What a sweet baby, yes you are," she murmured as she carefully rocked him back and forth. "Katie," Lily said with a smile. "Are you _sure_ you don't want to hold Jamie?"

"No thank you," Katie politely declined, hugging Anya's arm tighter.

"What if I hold him so you can look at him?" James asked. "I mean, he has been waiting to meet you for awhile now."

Katie gave him an unconvinced look. "How could he want to meet someone he doesn't know? He's just a baby, James."

Anya kissed the top of her head. "Remember all those days the two of us sat on the couch, and we would sometimes talk to Jamie?"

Katie nodded.

"Well, he could hear us, and that's why we were talking to him," Anya said.

Lily walked over and handed Jamie back to James, who propped him up in the crook of his arm so that Katie could see his little face peeking out of his swaddle. Katie leaned across her sister slightly to take a better look at Jamie. "He looks like James," she whispered.

"He does," Anya agreed. "I think you two are going to be best friends."

"Hmmm," Katie said, not appearing to be convinced. "We'll see."

Draco clapped a hand over his face as Hermione shook her head. "What are we going to do with that child?" he asked.

"She'll come around," Hermione said. "Alright, everyone, let's say our goodbyes so Anya can get some sleep."

Before they knew it, James and Anya were finally alone, the nurses taking the baby away for a proper bath and other diagnostic spells and official measurements the hospital tends to wait on so that families can enjoy the babies first. Anya insisted that James go with the baby, but there wasn't much James could do, and the nurses promised to bring the baby back in a hospital bassinet once they were finished. So instead, he stayed, curled up around his wife, enjoying the short, but peaceful silence.


End file.
